The Facts of Reconstruction eBook

Hemmingway was tried, convicted, sentenced and served
a term in the State Prison; all of which he calmly
endured rather than give the name of any person having
connection with that unfortunate affair. All the
satisfaction that the public can get with reference
to it,—­other than the punishment to which
Hemmingway was subjected,—­is to indulge
in conjectures about it. One conjecture, and
the most reasonable and plausible one, is that if
Hemmingway had made a full confession it might have
involved not only some men who were prominent and influential,
but perhaps the Democratic State organization as well.
For it was a well-known fact that in 1875 nearly every
Democratic club in the State was converted into an
armed military company. To fully organize, equip,
and arm such a large body of men required an outlay
of a large sum of money. The money was evidently
furnished by some persons or through some organization.
Those who raised the money, or who caused it to be
raised, no doubt had an eye to the main chance.
A patriotic desire to have the State redeemed (?)
was not with them the actuating motive. When the
redemption (?) of the State was an accomplished fact
they, no doubt, felt that they were entitled to share
in the fruits of that redemption. Their idea
evidently was that the State should be made to pay
for its own salvation and redemption, but the only
way in which this could be done was to have the people’s
money in the State treasury appropriated for that
purpose otherwise than by legislative enactment.
This, as I have already stated, is only a conjecture,
but, under the circumstances, it is the most reasonable
and plausible one that can be imagined.

The case of Treasurer Hemmingway is conclusive evidence
that in point of efficiency, honesty and official
integrity the Democratic party had no advantage over
the party that was placed in power chiefly through
the votes of colored men. What was true of Mississippi
in this respect was also true,—­in a measure,
at least,—­of the other reconstructed States.

CHAPTER XVII

THE HAYES-TILDEN CONTEST. THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION

Although the action of the returning boards in South
Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, gave Mr. Hayes a
majority of one vote in the Electoral College, the
Democrats, who were largely in the majority in the
National House of Representatives, were evidently not
willing to acquiesce in the declared result,—­claiming
that Mr. Tilden had been fairly elected and that he
ought to be inaugurated.

Hon. Henry Watterson, of Kentucky,—­who
was at that time a member of the House,—­delivered
a fiery speech in which he declared that a hundred
thousand armed men would march to Washington to see
that Mr. Tilden was inaugurated. The situation
for a while looked very grave. It seemed as if
there would be a dual government, Hayes and Tilden
each claiming to be the legally elected President.
To prevent this was the problem then before Congress
and the American people. Conferences, composed
of influential men of both parties, were being frequently
held in different parts of the city.